Preview – Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramus

Blizzard has finally released details for its first expansion of the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft digital card game. Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas will introduce a single-player adventure mode based on the Naxxramas dungeon in World of Warcraft.

The adventure will include five “wings” of content that will be released one wing per week, starting with The Arachnid Quarter on July 22nd. The pricing plan is convoluted, but basically you can buy each wing for $6.99 or 700 in-game gold. If you purchase more than one wing at a time you’ll get a discount. For those that don’t want to spend money and who immediately spend all their gold on card packs (yeah, that’s me too), Blizzard is giving away the first wing during the release window (roughly a month).

Another thing that the Curse of Naxxramas expansion brings to the game, something much needed to Hearthstone, is new cards. Player pundits have begun strongly lamenting the stagnation of the game’s different strategies over the last few months. The “good” decks have gotten so streamlined that there is little to no variation between them. This creates a frustrating environment for new players. The Curse of Naxxramas will introduce 30 new cards that center around the “Deathrattle” keyword (Deathrattle is an effect that triggers when something dies), with most of the cards either including the Deathrattle keyword on the card or dealing with death in other ways (definitely appropriate for an expansion build around a massive undead city). The crown jewel of this collection of new cards is the new legendary card called Baron Rivendare, who makes your minions trigger their Deathrattle abilities twice.

For more information, check out the excellent wiki page over at Gamepedia.com.

Let us know in the comments if you’re planning to brave the necropolis of Naxxramas. We certainly will be.